18th February, London There were over a 100 artists, activists, community workers, young people, archivists & conservators, educators, parents, grandparents, policymakers. We were taking part in talks, creative “Groundings” sessions, a parallel youth conference, music & poetry performances, from the fabulous El Crisis, younger talented artists, and the more experienced, discussing race and power, creativity and...

This project is part of Platform’s long-term commitment to support environmental justice struggles at the front lines of oil and gas drilling internationally. BP does not carry out fracking in the UK where it is headquartered, because “it would attract the wrong kind of attention”. But BP, Shell and a host of other companies are...

No Condition is Permanent features writing and poetry specially selected and written for PLATFORM’s season C Words: Carbon, Climate, Capital, Culture, which took place at Arnolfini, Bristol, October and November 2009. It takes its title from the packed night of performance and music which took place on November 7th in Arnolfini’s main gallery. C Words was a...

Today, a court in the Hague will consider for the first time whether Royal Dutch Shell can be held liable for destroying the livelihoods of four villagers in the Niger Delta. View original. Among the plaintiffs is Chief Barizaa, an Ogoni elder, who spoke of how oil spills from a Shell pipeline devastated his land in 2005...

View original. Today, a court in the Hague will consider for the first time whether Royal Dutch Shell can be held liable for destroying the livelihoods of four villagers in the Niger Delta. Among the plaintiffs is Chief Barizaa, an Ogoni elder, who spoke of how oil spills from a Shell pipeline devastated his land...

Newspaper-catalogue for Platform’s major exhibition and 50-day season of events at Arnolfini, Bristol, Oct/Nov 2009. Contains essays and schedule of events, workshops, courses, art-interventions, film screenings, courses and performances on issues of climate justice in the run-up to the Conference of the Parties on Climate Change – COP 15 – in Copenhagen. Download the C Words...

In Land, Art, A Cultural Ecology Handbook, Ed. Max Andrews, RSA, Arts Council England, 2006 The Nigerian writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed together with eight Ogoni colleagues by the Nigerian military on 10th November 1995 for his effective campaigning against the consistent despoilation of the oil-rich lands of the Niger Delta by oil...

10 years on from Saro-Wiwa the Niger Delta remains one of the world‘s most unstable oil provinces, despite US-UK ambitions. – This report was first published in Platform’s Carbon web newsletter, issue 2. Ten years ago on 10th November, 9 men were hanged in a squalid courtyard at Port Harcourt Prison, Delta State, Nigeria....

This report was first published in Platform's carbon web newsletter, issue 1. On 10th November 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight of his colleagues were executed by the Nigerian dictatorship following their campaign against the devastating environmental impacts of oil companies – including Shell and Chevron – in the Niger Delta. Ten years on and...

“Artists should be at the centre of society keeping alive a utopian vision, because society will not improve if the people envisioning a better society are politicians.” Peter Sellars The role of the artist in society is critical to communicate the injustices experienced daily by people. Art provides political expression beyond rhetoric, propaganda, and action,...

Presented at "Artist as Educator", Ikon Gallery and University of Central England, May 2003 as part of Arts Council England's "Interrupt" Symposia. Republished: a-n Collections April 2007. “The process of social change is in desperate need of creativity and imagination, and the aesthetic process in urgent need of social engagement” (from Course Document for the MA...